Manly Sea Eagles: Inside the most dysfunctional boardroom in Australian sport

EXCLUSIVE: Bitter, toxic and aggressive. We lift the lid the most dysfunctional boardroom in Australian sport.

MANLY icon Peter 'Zorba' Peters has lifted the lid on Australian sport's most dysfunctional board.

In a remarkable interview with The Daily Telegraph, Peters told of the in-fighting, the spite, name-calling and bitterness inside the Sea Eagles boardroom.

''It's toxic, aggressive and horrible,'' Peters said. ''There have been threats made.''

Bulldog: Just how volatile is it inside those infamous Manly board meetings?

Zorba: It's as volatile as you could imagine. I have grown-up in a tough school - I give as much as I get - but it is toxic and dysfunctional. It's aggressive, it's horrible.

News_Image_File: Peter Peters, veteran Manly official, inside the Sea Eagles' boardroom.

Bulldog: How personal does it get?

Zorba: There are plenty of people that have been called liars in that boardroom.

Bulldog: Sounds utterly spiteful.

Zorba: Absolutely. I am happy that we have a female representative (Kerry Chrysiliou) on the board who is also a lawyer. I think her presence has probably kept it from spilling over. But there has been walk-outs and threats made in the boardroom. It has become bitter and shouldn't be like that. We were always a club that was together.

Bulldog: Is it true the Sea Eagles board is split on most decisions?

Zorba: It is a 4-3 vote on almost every issue. That is sad and shouldn't happen. That is where the problem lies. There is no sensible decisions being made, they are being made on party lines. We need more independence.

News_Image_File: Peter Peters, veteran Manly official, inside the Sea Eagles' boardroom.

Bulldog: To be fair, you are aligned to the Penn faction.

Zorba: I am. I have always been up-front, I declared that a long time ago. They are a wonderful family but they didn't save my job (as former Manly media manager).

Bulldog: Have you ever thought of walking away to secure peace?

Zorba: I did walk away and then a lot of people phoned me and said come back because they didn't like what was happening. A lot of ex-players.

Bulldog: How has the club survived all this with such wonderful on-field success?

Zorba: This an amazing and fabulous club. I have just come back from the World Cup and Petero Civoncieva, who I think is one of the greats of our game in any era, told me off his own bat that whenever he played Manly he hurt for three or fours days after. He said what we have at this club, no other club has. It's gratifying that we are so good on the field, but so bad off it.

News_Rich_Media: Manly Sea Eagles winger David Williams stars in the short film 'Darkness Comes,' a finalist at the 2013 Tropfest film festival.

Bulldog: Do you think fans are fed-up with the bickering at board level?

Zorba: Absolutely. And I don't blame them. I am too.

Bulldog: Do players come to you also expressing their dismay?

Zorba: They are sick and tired of it. They hate it.

Bulldog: You are 68-years old. What keeps driving you?

Zorba: It is what this club has done for me. To see the guys that dug the well we could all drink from. We are sitting in Manly Leagues Club which used to be an old house. I owe to the people who built it to keep up the fight. This meeting (on December 19) coming up is probably the most important in the club's history and less than 600 people are going to decide the future of the club.

News_Rich_Media: In good news for Manly fans - fresh from Tropfest glory - David Williams has reportedly agreed to a contract extension with the Sea Eagles.

Bulldog: The meeting you talk of is a District Club election and there is a strong rival ticket challenging the board. Are you prepared to support that rival ticket publicly?

Zorba: I most definitely am. There have to be changes.

Bulldog: Where will this all end?

Zorba: A volcano is about to erupt.